Forget Mayan calendar, here's what's coming

A rising generation of American evangelicals is having a profound effect on the attitudes of young people. From the neo-hippie “Wild Goose” festival, to the Catalyst Conferences (courtesy of the Leadership Network, Bill Hybels and Rick Warren), energetic, earnest 20-somethings are being urged to rethink everything.

This movement is a slightly more mainstream version of the worldview served up by radicals like Marcus Borg and John Spong, who delight in trying to destroy historical Christianity.

In my humble view, the primary area of attack aimed at Bible-believing Christians rests in the area of eschatology. Frankly, apologetics groups like the Institute for Creation Research and Creation Ministries International have done such a good job bringing the issue of origins to the public consciousness, I think liberals have shifted their attack to proponents of Bible prophecy.

One of the senior statesmen of the prophecy community is William T. “Terry” James; I’ve known him for 20 years and find his books very nearly as impressive as his sterling character.

I’ve read all of Terry’s books (devour them, really), but “Last-Days Diary” is so good, I read it in one sitting. Just one of the fascinating elements is the use of his observations over the period 2010-2011. From there, one can track the convulsions rocking our planet, overlaid with sound eschatology.

As Dr. Larry Spargimino of Southwest Radio Church puts it in his foreword: “Tomorrow is already here, unfolding in current events that amazingly line up with the prophecies of the Bible.”

Although this book is one to help people prepare for various coming scenarios, Spargimino pegs it with his (and Terry’s) ultimate point of preparation: “We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure” (1 John 3:2–3).

Early on, Terry makes the excellent point that while many commentators today relish making fun of Bible prophecy, they have nonetheless given the absurd Mayan calendar “prophecy” real credibility. Take it from me – for what it’s worth – you would do well to heave the Mayan calendar onto a rock pile and pick up “Last-Days Diary” if you really want to know what’s coming.

In a 2010 piece, Terry asked why so many miss the fact that Paul’s letter to Timothy (2 Timothy 3), outlining the beastly character of people in the last days, is being ignored.

“People are lovers of themselves, boasters and proud,” Terry writes. “Children are disobedient to parents, with the assisted rebellion built in to the public school systems of America. We are a people – worldwide – who are unthankful and, certainly, unholy. The government-backed – even church-organization-backed – homosexual agenda, with hate crimes being legislated and implemented to punish those who dare to say God’s Word teaches homosexuality is a sin, shows the perilous-times characteristic ‘without natural affection’ is in our faces today.”

And it is that issue of homosexuality that will help unleash an unprecedented period of persecution for Bible-believing Christians, since not only the president and vice president have given their approval of “same-sex marriage,” but also leading evangelical pastors like Andy Stanley appear to be caving in to the homosexual lobby.

For some time, Terry has tracked global economics very carefully. For a 2011 entry, Terry points to this growing catastrophe as one of the greatest indicators that we are living on borrowed money and time: “Concern over the great monetary upheaval overrides all else with the globalist elite. The seas of human populations must be maneuvered in puppet fashion to bring in their idea of how the world system should run.”

For years, prophecy teachers like Terry sounded the alarm about a coming global economic system, and they were laughed at. Yet look at where we are (the Fed recently announced that China will buy its first American bank); Europe is headed rapidly toward a cashless society; and the financial distress of the nations virtually demands a person of unusual abilities to navigate through it.

After reading the dozens of topics Terry covers in “Last-Days Diary,” you will be thoroughly educated in the reality of biblical prophecy and how it points to the truth of the Bible.

He also issues a warning to those pastors who are ignoring a third of the Bible when they refuse to give predictive prophecy credibility: “These are perilous times, dear pastors and teachers. Bible prophecy at this juncture in human history isn’t frivolous or an elective to be chosen according to the pastor’s whim. The hour is late, and God’s people haven’t a clue. It is critical that you begin giving them biblically prophetic nourishment.”